[visionlist] How Life on Planet Earth Has Adapted to Environmental Light - Webinar hosted by Optica's TG Vision | Wed 14 Dec 2022 at 11 AM EST

[Christina Schwarz]

Dear Vision Researchers,

You are invited to join the Vision Technical Group for a webinar on 
'*How Life on Planet Earth Has Adapted to Environmental Light*' by 
Robert Fosbury. The event takes place on *14 December 2022, 11-12 AM - 
Eastern Time* (UTC - 05:00) via Zoom.
Please register here: 
https://osa.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_uXchL7kjT9ekXKlv75RVhw

*Robert Fosbury* is an astrophysicist who worked nearly 30 years for the 
European Space Agency on the Hubble Space Telescope project where he 
also participated in early work on instrumentation for the James Webb 
Space Telescope. Fosbury's research interests range from exoplanets and 
stellar atmospheres to supermassive black holes in radio galaxies and 
quasars and star formation in the early Universe. Fosbury is currently 
an emeritus astronomer at the European Southern Observatory - in Munich 
and Chile. After retirement, he was invited to become an honorary 
professor at the Institute of Ophthalmology at UCL where he works in an 
interdisciplinary team to study the interactions of light with biology 
following a lifelong interest in mechanisms of natural coloration.

When photosynthesizing life in the oceans started injecting its waste 
product oxygen into the atmosphere over two billion years ago, lifeforms 
had to adapt to what until then had been a toxic gas. This was probably 
the time that the hazy atmosphere of early Earth cleared to reveal the 
first blue skies. Since then, both plants and animals have adapted to 
the various forms of environmental sunlight which influence both 
biochemistry and vision.

Using recent work on the vision of reindeer during the long arctic 
winter, Bob Fosbury will describe how these animals turbocharge their 
eyesight to survive the extreme and challenging conditions resulting 
from the effects of the ozone layer which makes the extended twilight so 
blue. He will conclude by remarking on how some recently introduced 
forms of artificial lighting are breaking these billions of years of 
adaptation and are beginning to damage life of many kinds, including us.

*What You Will Learn:*
• About environmental light and the role ozone plays, particularly at 
sunrise or sunset
• Reindeer vision and seasonal changes in their tapetum lucideum

*Who Should Attend:*
• Graduate students and researchers in vision sciences, biology, optics, 
and ophthalmology
• Optical researchers and professionals who would like to gain insight 
into how animal vision adapted to best meet the challenges in the visual 
environment, which might inspire sophisticated artificial designs.

Hope to see you there!
Christina
on behalf of TG Vision

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